Finding A New Purpose
by MissPokemon92
Summary: Ash is framed and betrayed so he is forced to flee, luckily he is saved by Team Rocket before he can be captured and finds out everything he thought he knew about the organisation was false. With his old dream in tatters, Ash decides to work with Team Rocket.


Hi everyone, this is my first fanfic, I've been considering doing it for a little while and finally built up the guts to try it out. I know that there are tons of betrayal stories on this site but I want to try something a bit safer before I try doing a more ambitious story.

Ash is 16 at the beginning of this fic and events have transpired as they did in the anime.

* * *

Fear, pain, betrayal and confusion were all Ash felt right now as he sprinted away from his home town with Greninja and Pikachu by his side and his now former friend in hot pursuit determined to stop him. The day had started so well, he'd been filled with hope and optimism but all of that had now been dashed leaving Ash wondering what he would do now. He looked back and saw the people he had loved and trusted gaining on him and forced himself to go faster and try to put more distance between himself and them.

Luckily as he ran down Route 1, the flock of Pidgey, Pidgeotto and Pidgeot came to his aide and distracted the people chasing him. None of them knew why Ash was being pursued but they weren't going to let the one who had help save them from the Fearow be hunted down like that.

When he got to the outskirts of Viridian City, Ash finally came to a stop in the nearby wooded area and fell to his knees a combination of exhaustion and betrayal left him feeling drained. The two Pokémon Ash still had crouched next to him and hugged their training trying to provide any comfort they could.

"The flock will buy us some time but not much." Ash sighed and sat down on a tree stump. "What are we gonna do?"

Pikachu and Greninja honestly didn't have a response to that, there didn't seem to be much they could do right now other than run and hope to avoid the authorities. The only thing they both knew for sure was that they would stay by Ash's side until the very end, they would not abandon him no matter what. The sounds of battle could be heard in the distance, Ash, Pikachu and Greninja all knew that the flock were fighting hard to protect them, but they were gradually being defeated.

"We have an idea." A trio of familiar voices announced.

Ash, Pikachu and Greninja quickly turned to face the threat as Pikachu's cheeks crackled and Greninja pulled two blades out of the shuriken on his back and held them ready for battle, to neither Ash, Pikachu nor Greninja's surprise Jessie, James and Meowth were stood there but strangely they had a helicopter rather than their trademark Meowth shaped balloon. Usually Ash, Pikachu and Greninja would be more than happy to give these three a beating but right not was not a good time.

"I've got bigger things to worry about right now than you three."

"Listen kid this will sound crazy, but you have to trust us. We can get you somewhere safe." Jessie replied.

To say Ash was sceptical would be an understatement, he'd spent years fighting off these three and stopping them from stealing his Pokémon, well it was former Pokémon he supposed would be the best way to put it. So why on earth should he trust them now? Before Ash could really think about it his former friends all pushed through the forest and were now staring at him. Ash looked from his former friends to the Team Rocket trio and was slowly beginning to side with his long-time enemies.

"Please, come with us. There's no tricks this time." James pleaded.

A few minutes ago, the idea of trusting Team Rocket and going anywhere with them would have been laughable but right now it didn't seem so ridiculous. Ash looked back at his former friends who were intent on seeing him get arrested for a crime he hadn't committed and knew that going with Team Rocket was at the current time the lesser of two evils. With a sigh Ash nodded and allowed his long-time enemies to escort him onto the helicopter. Ash sat down in the spare seat and watched sadly as the helicopter took off and his former friends started to fade from view.

"We'll keep you safe kid." Meowth stated.

"You're not going anywhere Ash!" Misty yelled.

The traitors as Ash was now going to call them instructed all of the Pokémon to launch a barrage of attacks at the helicopter in an attempt to stop it. Greninja used his blades to block the attacks being fired at the helicopter while Pikachu fired bolts of electricity to block them. The pair then combined their attacks and Greninja launched the giant Water Shuriken on his back at them which Pikachu enhanced with a Thunderbolt. The shuriken easily tore through their attacks and slammed into the traitors Pokémon sending them all flying back. This gave Jessie, James, Meowth, Ash, Pikachu and Greninja enough time to fly away from the area freely.

* * *

Ash stared out the helicopter blankly as he thought over the events that had led up to this, the framing, the betrayal and the abandonment were consuming his thoughts. As he sat there Ash wasn't sure how long the flight had been, he knew they'd flown a great distance and wasn't even sure if he was in Kanto anymore. After a short while the helicopter finally landed outside a large building which Ash could only assume was one of Team Rocket's headquarters. The trio of Team Rocket members got out of the helicopter and looked back at Ash who was staring at the building.

"Come on kid, the boss wants to see you." Jessie said.

Ash nodded and got off the helicopter with Pikachu and Greninja by his side determined to keep him safe. As they walked towards the doors Ash looked around and was slightly nervous as he saw Team Rocket agents all around the area and they were all staring at him. Ash was grateful when Jessie, James and Meowth lead him away from the landing pad and into the building. At least here he didn't have to deal with the stares of various Team Rocket agents he knew he had battled in the past.

The group entered an elevator which started taking them up to the top floor, it was silent in there except for the dinging noise the elevator made as it ascended. The silence was making Ash focus on what had happened in Pallet and right now he really didn't want to think about it. He was looking for any kind of way to start a conversation and distract him from what happened, he suddenly realised that the trio hadn't called him twerp since they saved him.

"So, what happened to twerp?" Ash asked to the surprise of the trio.

"It'll all make sense after you speak with Giovanni." James replied.

That response raised more questions than it answered and left him wondering what Giovanni was going to tell him. A few minutes later the elevator doors opened revealing a large impressive office, at the back of the room there was a desk and sat behind it was Giovanni. The group walked out of the elevator to the desk, Ash had been face to face with Giovanni a few times and had even battled against him on one occasion, in the past he had found the leader of Team Rocket to be a powerful, charismatic and intimidating figure. This time however something was different, the stern and calculated look that he usually had in his eyes was replaced by a slightly softer gaze directed at Ash and then to the trio that had brought him here.

"Well done you three, you saved the boy. Once again you have shown your great worth to Team Rocket."

This statement from Giovanni was confusing to say the least for Ash, Pikachu and Greninja who looked between Giovanni and the trio in bemusement. From what they knew Jessie, James and Meowth were incompetent to say the least for Team Rocket, they had failed every attempt to capture the Pokémon belonging to Ash and his former friends and to their knowledge had done nothing else to justify such high praise from Giovanni of all people.

"I can see that you are confused Ash. There is much you do not know about Team Rocket, come with me and I will show you."

It was an open offer not a demand which only added to Ash's confusion, but since he didn't really have any other option right now Ash shrugged and followed Giovanni with Pikachu and Greninja by his side and Jessie, James and Meowth close behind. Ash was curious about what Team Rocket was apparently hiding plus it helped that it distracted him from what had happened in Pallet Town. The group headed down the elevator to the underground level, the doors opened, and Giovanni walked out looking around with a look full of pride.

"This is the research facility." Giovanni stated.

Ash looked around in shock, this wasn't what Ash expected to find at all, he'd expected horrific labs, prison blocks and many horrible things but there appeared to be none of that here. In utter disbelief Ash walked out of the elevator and followed Giovanni around the lab, staring at the multiple scientist working on computers, comparing notes and running experiments.

"I don't understand, this isn't what I thought a Team Rocket research lab would look like." Ash finally stated in confusion.

"That's not surprising, Team Rocket has managed to paint quite an evil picture of itself." A voice stated from behind Ash.

Ash recognised that voice, it was one he hadn't heard for a while, but he knew who it was immediately, he turned around and was glad to see that it was indeed Sabrina who was even more beautiful than he remembered. While it was a relief to see a familiar face it just made him more confused about everything to do with Team Rocket. Sabrina was a gym leader, a powerful one at that, and to see her apparently working with Team Rocket just didn't make sense based on what he knew of them.

"Sabrina? You work for Team Rocket?"

"Nice to know you remember me Ash and indeed I do. I understand that you are confused Ash but trust me Team Rocket is not the force of evil that everyone thinks. In fact, it's quite the opposite." Sabrina replied.

"If that's true then why make people believe you're an evil organisation?"

"To get the trust of the others, Plasma, Flare, Aqua, Magma and every other faction out there trusts Team Rocket and that gives us the advantage." Giovanni answered.

This was all starting to make more and more sense, the presence of Sabrina strengthening their claims, but something still didn't feel right and that something was the trio who had practically stalked him for six years. Over the course of that time they had perpetually tried to steal his Pokémon and used increasingly dangerous and at malicious ways of doing so.

"Alright let's say I believe you, why were you so interested in me? You've had Jessie, James and Meowth chasing me around for years trying to take my Pokémon?!"

"They were never trying to steal anything Ash, every failure they had was self-inflicted. It kept the other teams off you in general and kept your skills and your Pokémon sharp."

Ash suddenly felt incredibly dejected, every victory against them had felt good and even though they'd always been incompetent it had built his confidence up. To find out that every victory over them wasn't legitimate crushed him more than he honestly expected. Ash looked at Pikachu and Greninja who were both feeling the exact same as Ash, learning that all those victories were fake was surprisingly depressing. Eventually Ash turned to face the trio who were looking surprisingly sheepish for once.

"You mean every time I beat you three, it was fake?" Ash asked.

"Actually, the battles were completely legitimate, you trounced us in almost every encounter through your skill." Jessie replied.

"Our machines on the other hand always had flaws that you would be able to exploit." James added.

"I don't get it though, why put so much emphasis on me though? You had them chasing me throughout multiple regions for over six damn year. Why did you do that?"

Ash looked around at Giovanni, Sabrina, Jessie, James and Meowth looking for one of them to give him an answer. They all looked at Giovanni waiting for him to give an explanation. There was a long pause and Ash watched as a myriad of emotions crossed Giovanni's face until it seemed as though the man finally came to a decision.

"The reason I kept you safe is…"


End file.
